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How Many Times Must A Story Be Told Before It Is Called A Lie
By David Hunter
Posted July 13, 2010 at 12:54 p.m.
Human society is rife with gossip, urban legends, conspiracy theories, and other forms of misinformation passed from person to person without verification. The Internet has enabled such drivel to reach even wider audiences through chain letters, memes.
I once made it a practice to debunk the nonsense, but it didn’t help. Either the people who send such junk were offended at being told that a cherished notion wasn’t true, or they accused the fact checkers at sites set up to investigate rumors of being biased.
There are none so blind as those who will not see. All others may look at these resources.
I checked on two urban legends that caught my attention.
Legend No. 1: In order to prevent panic, the government is covering up the deaths of several young women who died after sniffing perfume samples that arrived in the mail. So says the 2010 version of an “urgent” message that has been surfacing on the Internet since right after Sept. 11, 2001.
Every time it happens hundreds, maybe thousands, of people quickly forward the warning to friends and neighbors around the country. At various times, the warning has also included other cosmetics.
Legend No. 2: This hoax even fooled me temporarily. The indignant e-mail called for all Christians to stand up and let the people at Pepsi Cola know that they do not appreciate having “under God” left off the “new” patriotic Pepsi can.
In its last incarnation, this meme was aimed at Coca-Cola. The first version actually began in 2001 when Dr. Pepper did a patriotic can with a picture of the Statue of Liberty and the words “One nation…Indivisible,” not the entire pledge.
It’s a safe bet that none of the accused companies will ever try to promote patriotism again. No good deed goes unpunished.
As I recall one of the Ten Commandments forbids bearing false witness — but apparently it’s OK to spread unverified rumors and plead ignorance.
David Hunter is a freelance writer and former Knox County sheriff’s deputy. You may write him at P.O. Box 1124, Powell TN 37849. His e-mail address is davidhunter333@comcast.net.
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Some comments that were posted:
July 13, 2010
1:18 p.m.
LouisVol writes:
I'm still getting the "Madelyn Murray O'Hair has a petition before the FCC to remove religious programming from television and radio and not let astronauts in space read the Bible over the air" warning 15 years after her death. I understand the FCC had to hire new employees just to handle the correspondence they received in response.
July 13, 2010
2:26 p.m.
Kurtz writes:
Well said David.
July 13, 2010
3:19 p.m.
oldoldtimer writes:
I still get the one about the Muslim stamp. They did update it to show 44 cents instead of the 34 cents when originally issued. dumb people with too much free time on their hands. I guess you have time for this garbage if the Gov't is supporting you.
My all time favorite is the 7 year old abused girl who is dying of cancer from second hand smoke. I wonder how many fell for that one?
July 13, 2010
4 p.m.
jmr68ut writes:
Love it!!! Point well taken David. You're talking to the crowd that wants to make their enemies look bad weather it's true or not. They should be ashamed to call themselves Americans.
July 13, 2010
4:07 p.m.
Juvenal writes:
I don't understand the appeal of e-mail hoaxes when the (usually) actual events being reported in the news are so much worse.
July 13, 2010
4:13 p.m.
why36knot#656113 writes:
What about the story that JFK had Marilyn Monroe killed to keep her quiet?
What about the story about the "mob" having RFK bumped off because he was getting too close to them?
What about the story that LBJ was in on the conspiracy to kill JFK?
What about the story that President Bush was behind the planning and execution of the attacks on the twin towers on September 11 2001 ?
Yes...some people believed that one.
I guess I must have dreamed that one because surely no one would accuse any President of The United States of something so horrid. ....Would they??
The world today is "chock full 'O nuts" who have nothing better to do with thier time than to sit around and dream up conspiracy theories.
July 13, 2010
4:34 p.m.
shadow11 writes:
I get the one about perfume samples so often it is getting silly. If such a thing were actually going on, why would the government want to cover it up? It just doesn't make sense.
July 13, 2010
5:46 p.m.
David81 writes:
Of course the below are certifiably true.
The health care bill will cut the overall healthcare costs for the U.S.
The healthcare bill will not result in rationing of healthcare
Rationing of healthcare will not result in shorter life spans for select segments of the population
Arizona LEO’s can stop anyone that they think may be in the country illegally and demand to see their papers.
Legal residences of Arizona will have to carry their passport or birth certificate to prove their legal status.
Tea Party members spat on and used racial epithets against African American political leaders.
Algore won the 2000 presidential election.
Jews and Israel carried out the 9-11 attacks and that all Jewish employees at the World Trade Center were absent from work that day.
A member of the Bush Whitehouse staff outed Valerie Plame to Robert Novak.
Local cops have always notified immigration authorities when they run across illegal immigrants in the course of their peace-keeping duties.
July 13, 2010
5:58 p.m.
laughingbird writes:
I just gotta say that the level of anger in people is amazing. Does everyone suffer from watching to much Jerry Springer? Is every moment just an opportunity to say something ugly about the folks you don't like. Maybe the heat has destroyed all but your reptilian brain stem. Too much Rush of Beck can do that people. It is sad that we live in a time when it's enough to spew venom, no substance required. Just venom.
July 13, 2010
7:24 p.m.
David81 writes:
in response to laughingbird:
Do you mean something like the above?
July 13, 2010
8:27 p.m.
laughingbird writes:
in response to David81:
Sweet, sweet David81, there were a few folks I was talking about, if the shoe fits, put it on. My point is that it is indeed possible to disagree without suggesting the other side are demon centered. My country is starting to resemble a banana republic or an african dictatorship. We live in a democracy. Sometimes we lose elections. That doesn't mean that the other side represents the antichrist. That doesn't mean the other side is evil. It means that a majority of people didn't buy the arguments offered. If we don't learn to speak to one another like humans, then this country is done for. It won't be because of an outside force. It'll be because everyday americans have turned on each other. I find that incredibly sad.
July 13, 2010
8:36 p.m.
lv4him#1368766 writes:
Young man, if you are going to try keeping up with all the fabrications out there, you'll go nuts. And you'll miss most of them. A wise Christian once said: "Concentrate on this.....Jesus Christ is the way, truth and life. Everything else may as well be a lie. Go for Him, you'll thank Him every day for eternity." And you'll enjoy the meantime." And that's the truth 'cause I heard my daddy say it over and over. God bless we the people who find secular truth ever fleeting and hard to find. When you think you have, can you believe it?
July 13, 2010
10:49 p.m.
moonpied writes:
So did ya'll get that email about Newt and Lindsay Graham in a gay bar?
July 13, 2010
11:21 p.m.
David81 writes:
in response to laughingbird:
Thank you. Well done especially the “sweet, sweet” part and I agree. Much more credible that your first attempt.
July 14, 2010
8:26 a.m.
ncvolgrunt writes:
in response to laughingbird:
I just gotta say that the level of anger in people is amazing. It is sad that we live in a time when it's enough to spew venom, no substance required. Just venom.
you mean like you just did?
July 14, 2010
10:34 a.m.
Elrod writes:
Never, ever believe anything you see in a chain e-mail or social network re-share. And NEVER share it as some sort of gospel truth. In fact, the best thing to do is to "Reply all" and call out the idiot who passed it on to you (even if it's a friend). Those who propogate these things should be shamed.
I've received these BS memes on the left and the right and they are all either outright lies or wild distortions of kernels of truth. As a general rule they are passed along by people stupid enough to believe them and stupid enough to believe that they have access to the "truth" that nobody else has.
Yes, sometimes the mainstream media - or even the relatively mainstream blogosphere - glosses over or ignores something important. But a chain email suggesting it does not count as evidence of such evasion. Chain emails indicate ignorant paranoia and cynical exploitation of the fears of credulous people.
Strangely enough, I received lots of these emails from groups claiming to be Jewish organizations in the 2008 campaign (I'm Jewish so I suppose I get on some fun lists). Some fabricated quotes making Obama looking like an anti-Semite, and others did the same for Sarah Palin. I don't know who the target is for this - maybe my gullible, yenta aunt - but they are about as laughable as notions that the moon landing was staged in a studio.
July 14, 2010
11:01 a.m.
GOJO writes:
in response to laughingbird:
I just gotta say that the level of anger in people is amazing.
*******
Hear, Hear, get all your talking points from MSNBC, one of the better Socialist networks.
July 14, 2010
12:15 p.m.
jlc_62454#621340 writes:
in response to laughingbird:
Laughingbird who spews venom. No substance, just venom.
July 14, 2010
2:30 p.m.
laughingbird writes:
There you go folks, pages of nastiness. I read these to try to understand the thoughts and processes of others. And still I am amazed at the bomb throwers. I guess all that "love your enemies stuff is just applied from 10am-1200pm on Sunday. It is easier to read about it than to live it. Why would anyone worry about the real enemies of the US, when we have each other to eat? you prove my point.
July 14, 2010
2:46 p.m.
dstroier#639755 writes:
in response to cjensen#613296:
What Mr. Hunter was really getting at, but was too much of a gentleman to say so outright, is the twisted truth, lies and fabrication of the Tea Party/Sean/Levin/Beck/Rush take on a life of their own...repeated 10,000 times---but still untrue.
Really? REALLY? Maybe you didn't read this:
Legend No. 3: When the petition addressed to President Barack Obama demanding that he overturn a recent Senate decision to give Social Security benefits to illegal aliens lands in your e-mail box, you can safely delete it. The first time this hoax made the rounds it was addressed to President George W. Bush
See, that last paragraph means liberals started it. It's like the political jokes where the names change but the body of the joke remains the same. People play the same jokes over and over. Hunter wasn't talking about the right making false claims. He was talking about people making false claims and how it is easier now that the forward/share button is all you have to hit. He also noted that it's easier to check out the claims with Yahoo and Google search engines as well as sites that debunk some urban legends.
Instead of inserting your own thoughts into the column, you should try READING the column and then commenting on what you read...not what you wish it said. You see CJ, we KNOW what you think. We may not care but we know.
July 14, 2010
3:33 p.m.
dstroier#639755 writes:
in response to laughingbird:
There you go folks, pages of nastiness.
Physician, heal thyself. From your own comments:
"Maybe the heat has destroyed all but your reptilian brain stem. Too much Rush of Beck can do that people."
(About Sara Palin)
"whenever she smiles, the corners of her mouth turn downwards making it a sneer"
"It seems that Americans are content with platitudes and sneers."
"And all of that is before anaylizing what she is saying"
"That is the part that shows how shallow the talent pool in the GOP really is."
"There is no one in the GOP with any clue as to the importance of both parties working together after an election."
"The GOP is filled with sore losers"
"What an idiot."
"My country has turned into a nation of whinners" (sic)
"Their plan all along has been to bankrupt the country"
"The right wing reactionary's heads must be spinning with green vomit spewing forth."
"Think back to the "angry white man" vote during the 90's. The Republicans deserve them."
"what a bunch of mean, really mean folks. It is a sad would you live in. You serve a very small god."
"The Republicans and Tea Party folks are midgets compared to those 3 brothers." (Those brothers being the Kennedys)
I will cap this off with something YOU wrote as well:
"When you start making generalizations about entire groups of people, you're probably wrong"
Hypocrisy, thy name is Laughingbird
July 14, 2010
4 p.m.
David81 writes:
in response to laughingbird:
Oh my.
You fell off the wagon again.
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